Empowering a resilient voluntary and community sector

Supporting the sector by building resilience through providing free bespoke one to one expert advice, plus our popular training and webinars

CAN – Dorset

From February 2022 we’re commissioned by Dorset Council to be the local infrastructure organisation empowering a resilient voluntary and community sector (VCS). We work with organisations to evolve and adapt so they can grow, thrive and survive, by providing professional and practical expertise – helping groups right from the start, empowering them to become strong and independent, with good governance and management.

Providing and facilitating FREE bespoke support and advice

We offer a series of ‘how to’ guides, along with bespoke one to one expertise, and peer to peer support. Check out what’s on offer and our ‘how to’ guides available to our members here.

For support with volunteer management head over to our colleagues at Volunteer Centre Dorset. If you operate in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area check out our support here.

Delivering training and FREE webinars

We’ve gathered insight into what training and information the sector have requested and will be delivering:

Our popular ‘Meet the funder’ sessions
Start-up advice and business planning; Monitoring and evidencing impact
Writing a good funding application; Financial governance; Trading as a charity
Being a Charity Trustee; Safeguarding; Essential policies and documents, including health and safety and GDPR

Check out our new programme here and to register your interest in upcoming sessions.

Meet the Funder sessions

We can work with you to help identify the best sources of funding for your project or service, and ensure you have the right information needed for an application.

Through CAN’s ‘Meet the Funder’ series, we will also be looking to put organisations in direct contact with those responsible for making grant and funding decisions. Through these sessions, they’ll explain how they can help you and the best approach to increase your chance of success. Visit here to see what is scheduled for the coming months.

Connecting with grassroots

We connect with grassroots community groups to meet emerging needs

Sharing good practice

Our regular e-newsletters, communications and networking support the VCS to:

build collaborations and partnerships
be well-informed about the current and future operating environment

Promoting the value of the VCS

We’ll take every opportunity to celebrate the voluntary and community sector. Our Community Heroes in the Spotlight initiative promotes the invaluable work of the sector particularly smaller / micro groups and the impact they have on the communities they work with.